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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23631823">Disingenuous</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Changkyunnnie/pseuds/Changkyunnnie'>Changkyunnnie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cravity (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Business Man Jungmo, Doctor Minhee, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, Illegal Activities, Jungmo centric, M/M, Minor Character Death, One-Sided Attraction, minimo rise, violent themes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:48:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,886</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23631823</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Changkyunnnie/pseuds/Changkyunnnie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone had a role to play in this world and maybe Minhee’s role was pretending he didn’t know.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kang Minhee/Koo Jungmo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Disingenuous</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A/N: This is purely self-indulgent and inspired by Jungmo's cold mogu cravity teasers.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>It gets better with time. That’s the sentence he hears as he watches the blood seeping out of the lifeless body of someone whose name he won’t remember in the next five minutes. The scene before him is disgusting, but it’s not because there’s a severed head on the floor. It’s also not because life was just taken away, blown out like a candle in the wind with his one command. </p><p>The setting was simply dirty- an abandoned warehouse stacked with dusty wooden crates, the pool of blood is still spreading on the floor, a large bloodied survival knife thrown carelessly next to the lifeless body. The blood spreads through the dust-covered floor and Jungmo exhales in disgust. All he can hear is the heavy breathing sound of the person standing a few meters away from him and notes that the kid must be new.</p><p>He would love a smoke right now. It’s the perfect setting you see; a dimly lit crime scene, a dead body and a heartless monster who is getting away with all his sins.</p><p>He clicks is tongue after the thought passes his mind, it’s replaced with a deep voice that plays at the back of his consciousness, “No more of those cancer sticks.” The voice had warned. It’s warm and filled with so much honest disappointment and concern that Jungmo was not used to that the encounter had burned a mark on his memory much like the first time he was forced to take the smoke in his lungs. He vividly remembers nodding his head and caving in, promising to smoke no more and he had kept that promise to this day.</p><p>It doesn’t mean his tongue, his mouth, and his lungs aren’t craving for a hit all this time, most especially during times just like these.   </p><p>He spares a glance at his lackey, the one with blood on his hands. The other man looks like he had just barely entered his twenties, face hard with a rigid standing posture. He’s breathing hard but trying to keep up a brave front. Maybe it’s his first time killing a man, maybe not, but the raw fear that the man is emitting by refusing to look Jungmo’s way was a dead giveaway. He’s definitely new.</p><p>It’s a bit funny really, how these people would rather look at the dead body that they violated, whose life they just took than to cast their glance at the monster that had made them kill in the first place. Well, Jungmo supposes that the living was always scarier than the dead. </p><p>He can’t remember this one’s name or maybe he hadn’t even bothered to ask because there are dozens of people like this boy. They’re all young and cold-blooded with a misplaced vengeance directed to the world from a sad story that no one cares about. What’s important to Jungmo at least is that they’re willing to do as he says with the right amount of money, of course. They’re all filthy, the dead person on the floor, the person that had just taken the life of a stranger he only met that night and then there was him. Jungmo has no delusions that he was any better than the next man, it just so happens that he now has the luxury of having people dirty their hands for him. </p><p>He looks around again, taking in the few details he can make out, absolutely disgusted and he decides that it’s finally time to go. A quick glance on his wristwatch and it shows the time. He realizes he would not be home before nine in the evening and he frowns, turning around he wordless walks away, his dress shoes clicking against the roughly cemented floor.</p><p> </p><p>He makes a mental note to make Serim find better locations for executions like this one, surely there can be better places that wouldn’t make him worry about his rare designer shoes leaving any visible footprint on the thickly dust-covered flooring. He had once considered having Serim or Woobin do these things for him- passing judgment on the lives of people who owed him or crossed him and his business in some way, but in the end, he decides it’s better when he trusts no one to call the shots.</p><p>It’s ironic really because he’s now leaving a dead body and a crime scene while blindly trusting that Woobin will take care of it. Throwing the police off was his specialty. It should be Seo Woobin’s specialty, Jungmo reminds himself, because the man was a damn good detective before the Koo family had bought his loyalty with a fatter paycheck than the government could ever give and the important promise of his family’s safety. Now, no matter how much anyone tried, they would never be able to pin any crime to the Koo family, it was simply how life is.</p><p> </p><p>“It will all get better with time,” he remembers again. It’s always his late father telling him the sentence over and over again during his childhood and into early adulthood. Behind him, the door of his car closes with a soft click and he makes himself comfortable. He softly curses when he notices the considerable amount of dirt on his shoes that he had brought in from the outside. He’s a bit irritated, but still politely instructs the driver to take him home and without a word, the old man drives on. </p><p>It takes a few minutes before he completely zones out, his view is the dark road and the familiar back of Mr. Son’s head, his driver, who had served his family even before Jungmo was born. Jungmo then wonder if all this sick business eventually got better with Mr. Son’s conscience as time went on. Or maybe Mr. Son was just like him, able to stomach all the evils they do on the daily. Jungmo would never voice these thoughts out loud just because it seems weird to ask such a personal question about someone’s values in a world that didn’t have any. </p><p> </p><p>For almost a decade now, Jungmo has been the head of the family that was, frankly speaking, dealing with too much dirty money. It’s a web of crime that he cannot escape. From an easy age, Jungmo grew up being groomed to take over. That’s exactly what he did and when his father, then only on his fifties, had suffered a massive heart attack and died a quick agony less death. Jungmo was just twenty-two years old at that time. </p><p>His father had thought him many things but compassion to people that did not matter was never in the list of values instilled on him, in fact, there was such a short list of values that it almost doesn’t exist. Nothing really mattered in a soulless lifestyle that was created for brutality, power, and greed.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Jungmo never understood it, when his father told him again that; “It gets better with time, son.” during Jungmo’s first kill. The victim was someone he knew, it had been a dishonest worker in their estate, someone that stole a couple of hundred dollars from their weekly drug collection money. Jungmo was fourteen then and had blown the man’s head off with his father’s handgun. He dropped the gun but hardly felt the ringing of the gunshot.</p><p>Looking back now, he wonders if his father thought he had dropped the gun from the trauma of taking a life. It was hardly the case. Jungmo remembers that before pulling the trigger he was calmly watching and hearing the now faceless man in his memory. This man was pleading for dear life and at the moment that Jungmo had raised the gun to aim directly at the bound man’s face, he had pulled the trigger. He had felt absolutely nothing for the man, but he was disgusted at the mess of blood and flesh that was made after. He had excused himself, throwing the soiled gun to the floor.<br/>
<br/>
It was odd. It never got better through time because one death or one hundred, it all felt the same to him. He felt nothing.</p><p>Everything he did, it was all impersonal. He was just doing his job and filling in the role he was born into society. He was the heir to a company whose secret foundation is built by the blood and broken futures of people that got in their way. Lately, he thinks there’s been a shift to that.</p><p> </p><p>The cause of the shift comes in the form of a tall doctor whose eyes shined like the stars whenever he talked about something that made him happy or excited. The man whose delicate hand used to heal the sick is now prettily decorated by a single engagement ring. It’s medium size, platinum with both ends lined with bands of finely cut diamonds. It’s an expensive piece of jewelry and Jungmo had made sure that everyone who looked would know.</p><p>It’s a little after nine when a text message registers on his phone. He knows it’s his lover asking him where he is and informing him that he had arrived back home safely. Jungmo types a quick apology, explaining that he’s on his way home as well. He receives nothing more than an angry gif of a puppy in response. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Minhee was lounging on their living room, a National Geographic documentary about plants playing on low volume when the older man arrives at their shared home. The lights are on in their kitchen and he spots paper bags of food on the center island as he passes by. The familiar design stamped on them he recalls is from the take out place near the hospital Minhee works at. Naturally, like always with anything that concerns Minhee, he feels a smile creeping through his face. He’s thinking about how the younger man knows it’s his favorite place to eat at when he has the luxury of time to wait for Minhee’s shift to be over. “I’m home.” He says while walking to the hallway, it’s loud enough to make his presence known. </p><p>“You’re late,” Minhee announces with a pout to his voice as he looks up at Jungmo’s form that’s towering over him from behind. Minhee was technically taller than Jungmo by a few centimeters and had on many occasions successfully wrapped his long self around the older man, but Minhee was a gentle giant who unknowingly liked making himself seem smaller than he actually is. </p><p>The older man offers him a warm apologetic smile as he unbuttons his plaid printed suit, mindless removing his coat. His eyes flicker from Minhee who is now already in a simple white t-shirt and cotton shorts to the close up of leaves and flowers on their huge tv screen. He hears a follow-up remark from the younger. “But you look good, so maybe I’ll forgive you.” Jungmo places his folded coat on the backrest of their while leather sofa.</p><p>“Should I kiss you as an apology, my love?” Jungmo offers with a chuckle, he had leaned down to teasingly whisper the words on the younger’s ear. He lets his lips brush Minhee’s ear ever so lightly and finds the satisfaction when the other lunges forward a bit and by instinct extending his long arms to swat Jungmo away, reacting in the shy manner the older had predicted.</p><p>“No.” Minhee barks at him without any bite to it. Everyone had always compared Minhee to an overgrown puppy, harmless and innocent and makes everyone’s worries disappear. Jungmo thinks he’s most adorable when his ears turn red in embarrassment or shame. </p><p> </p><p>Minhee’s so transparent and honest with his feelings that Jungmo has a hard time even believing someone would so willingly bare their emotions to others- especially to him.</p><p>He can’t help feeling that it was unreal; this situation of being able to love and be loved by a man that wants nothing more from him other than a loving relationship. And it hits him that only half of his identity is exposed to Minhee. What they have is built on half-truths and lies that can make this picture-perfect relationship end up in shambles. </p><p>Koo Jungmo lives in a calculated world where every action has a purpose and meaning to it. There was always something to gain or lose, but suddenly there he is with Kang Minhee who knows nothing of his world. This outsider that had caught Jungmo’s heart for certain couldn’t even dream of the horrors Jungmo had inflicted in so many people’s lives. Instead of saving himself from the monster, he’s busy buying Jungmo’s favorite food and willingly forgiving the older for being an hour and thirty minutes late to their promised dinner time.</p><p>“But I look so good that you are willing to forgive me. I’m offering you a kiss to make it up to you.” Jungmo reasons out, taking Minhee’s outstretched hand and interlacing the other’s finger with his own. He leans down on the backrest, fixing a faux serious look on the other. The fake intimidation doesn’t work. </p><p>“You just want a kiss.” The younger accuses him, voice loud with a chuckle. Jungmo notes that Minhee squeezes his hand, holds him in a way that makes Jungmo’s heart skip a bit. It’s a small thing, but it reminds him that the younger has got him, just as much as Jungmo wishes he has got Minhee.</p><p>“I do.” He admits honestly. There was no sense in denying so he takes the hand that they’re joint together with and kisses Minhee’s knuckle as he holds eye contact with his lover for a few seconds before moving away to observe. The younger’s face is so close to him that he can see the galaxy of freckles on his flushed pretty face. </p><p>“Well you aren’t getting any because you’re late.” Minhee finally drops the bomb and Jungmo groans loudly, like a child that’s not allowed his treats. Maybe it was not Minhee who was like an overgrown puppy, maybe it is him. </p><p>“But I look good.” Jungmo reasons out. Minhee is pulling his hand away, the position of looking back at Jungmo from behind finally making his body uncomfortable. Jungmo understands the action and instead of letting go, he allows himself to move around the sofa, still holding Minhee’s hand when he finally flops down beside his fiancée, he smiles with all his being. He even feels his eyes turning into crescents as his cheeks ride up from the corners of his mouth. <br/>
<br/>
</p><p>“You always look good.” Minhee declares, eyeing him from top to bottom, eyes stopping a little too long on his neck area. </p><p>Jungmo knows he’s still perfectly made up with the exception of the coat on the backrest. His brown hair is slicked back and he’s still wearing a black turtleneck with smart dress pants that are a match with his plaid white and black coat. Unlike Minhee, Jungmo wore his engagement ring on a silver chain around his neck but Jungmo does wear another band, a much simpler one just for symbolism on his finger. He detests the idea of ever soiling his precious ring, one that perfectly matched with Minhee’s.</p><p>“Is that why you’re marrying me, Kang Minhee? My face?” He asks, jokingly.</p><p>“Don’t be silly!” Minhee replies cooly, his deep amused voice booming in their living room. “Then why?” Jungmo still probes. </p><p>Minhee leans closer to him. There is a bright smile on his pretty little lips and sweetly, playfully, he whispers to Jungmo, “Because, I love you, dummy.”</p><p>The older smiles back. He thinks his own cheeks are flaring up as well. It’s the Minhee effect on him or maybe he’s just so embarrassed with how they’re acting. </p><p>Jungmo had just entered his thirties a few months before and Minhee is exiting his twenties the next year, but here they were holding hands and playfully flirting with each other like how youngsters would do instead of having grown up dinner in some fancy restaurant. “I’m a dummy? Now you’re just bullying me and playing with my heart.” Jungmo says, grabbing his chest with his free hand to emphasize where it hurt. Minhee giggles in response and shakes his head.</p><p> </p><p>“I love you even if you’re always late and I can’t complain because you take my breath away even if you’re just wearing a plain turtleneck shirt with our ridiculous engagement ring hanging from your neck.” </p><p>“Minhee.” Jungmo says a little louder now. He almost takes offense. The engagement ring with too many diamonds for a medium-sized band was his idea, yes, but if he had somewhere to finally squander the money he so easily takes lives for, it would be used for the most important of a person. </p><p>“And I love you even when I try not to think of you during my shifts but you keep visiting me in everything, you know.” The younger man confesses more bashfully.</p><p>“I don’t know, Minhee. Tell me more.” Jungmo makes a show of leaning his side on the backrest, facing Minhee who is beside him. He’s still holding the younger’s hand and smiles wider, expectantly he squeezes Minhee’s hand lightly asking that the younger speak more.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
What was Minhee going to do, not indulge him? The younger continues, once he folds his long long legs to his chest, he tucks his chin at the top of his knees. He had been Indian sitting on the couch prior to Jungmo’s arrival.</p><p>“It’s all the little things...the fresh flowers you sent me two days ago, I placed in a vase on my desk. There’s also the candies that I buy to give for the kids. The sealed packs you keep opening behind my back to steal some candy and then stashing it back in my bag thinking I don’t notice. I remember them all.” Minhee’s fond voice is like a melody that never gets old, He could listen to the younger’s deep voice all day and he would be content, but of course, Minhee had to tease him instead of showering him with the sweet cheesy words that Jungmo wants.</p><p>“I don’t steal your candies.” The older then whines in a cute voice, it comes like a natural response to Minhee. He wonders what his people are would say if they saw their heartless cold-blooded leader acting as the lovesick fool like this.</p><p>Ah, Jungmo thinks, who cares about that. He watches Minhee laughing, eyes filled with joy, Jungmo hopes he’s mirroring the same. They’re two very ridiculous people in love, for sure. </p><p>“You just get them without permission,” Minhee says after he finished laughing. The tension is still high so Jungmo still rides along with him. </p><p>“Is that illegal?” It’s Jungmo’s turn to pout, he pulls Minhee’s hand, the one that’s still connected to his and Minhee lets him.</p><p>The younger makes a face that shows he was thinking and replies “Technically. You’re a thief” In a matter of fact tone.</p><p>“You should call the cops on me then, Mr. Kang. I’m a thief.” Jungmo replies.</p><p>He untangles his fingers from where it’s interlaced with Minhee’s but its only for a few seconds. Before Minhee can pull his hand away he grips the ends of Minhee’s long fingers. He looks down and spots the beautiful diamond-studded ring, the symbolism of the promise they had made to each other months ago. Once again he brings the younger’s knuckles near his lips but stops his action when Minhee’s fingers are just a few centimeters from his lips. He knows his breath is almost ghosting on the younger’s knuckles.</p><p>“Don’t even try, Jungmo.“ Minhee warns at him with a disgusted look. Minhee was the one who liked giving pick-up lines but on some days like these, Jungmo was especially greasy. Minhee can already feel the lame flirty joke the other was going to say and it’s more shameful because he knows the older has only learned from the best- him.</p><p>“I’m a thief who stole your candies and your heart!” Jungmo exclaims as he pecks Minhee’s hand. He pays no mind to the overreacting his fiancé is doing, fake gagging and all.</p><p> </p><p>Minhee pulls his hand away from Jungmo’s and suddenly moves in to trap Jungmo’s face in between his two hands. “Baby, are you hungry?” He inquires. Jungmo smiles and leans in, fixing Minhee a serious gaze again. “Baby I’m hungry for your kiss.”<br/>
<br/>
He moves his gaze from Minhee’s eyes to Minhee’s freckled cheeks and then stops at the younger’s plump lips. Minhee had always taken care of himself well, it came with the need to take care of others. He knew everything from the latest and safest skincare to organic supplements and makeup and of course, his lips never had a day that was not moisturized. It was just so kissable.  </p><p>“Not a chance.” Minhee rejects him and pushes him away, face and body, Jungmo lets him. He rolls back halfway and lets his back lean in on the comfortable backrest. He notices that the plant documentary is still playing but it’s shooting huge trees in the forest now. The younger man announces, as he pulls himself up, that he bought the two of them take out. He always assumes Jungmo hasn’t eaten and he’s always correct.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Dinner is always eventful. Minhee likes talking about the cute kids he treats during the day, complaints about Nurse Hyeongjun telling him off for being noisy and the latest gossip development about Doctor Minhyuk- Minhee’s favorite senior colleague and Dr. Hyungwon from the oncology department. Jungmo likes listening to these and knows that all the people his lover is talking about are safe and harmless citizens who are living normal lives- he made a background check of course. He shares his day as well, a much more filtered version of the events that had occurred.<br/>
<br/>
Tells Minhee that a business deal he’s been culminating for months has just gotten done and the other congratulates him with a smile but doesn’t ask him any more details. He’s glad. In a way it’s true- the lot that they have been meaning to acquire for a month now will probably go up for sale in a few weeks.<br/>
<br/>
Tomorrow the owner of the lot, an old man who had a son that was opposing the already almost finished contract will get the news that his son had gotten in a fatal accident somewhere in the outskirts of Seoul. A faulty brake will cause the car to fall off a shallow cliff, a fire will start and would leave the charred remains of the already dead man almost unidentifiable.</p><p>Jungmo will probably read about it in the news sometime this week.</p><p> </p><p>“You should try this cake, Eunsang gave it to me this afternoon.” Jungmo looks down at the slice of fresh fruit cake Minhee had just placed in front of him. Large chunks of fresh strawberry smacked on the white frosting. It didn’t look one bit appealing to him.</p><p>“Thank you.” He says slowly, he makes an effort to smile but could only give Minhee a half-smile. Jungmo’s not a very good actor and he really detested the name, it made his insides burn. Dr. Lee Eunsang. It was a bother.</p><p>The younger pays him no minds as he digs in on his own slice of cake, just happy to be able to eat something sweet after their dinner.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
He hated the younger doctor’s name the same way he had hated Dr. Cha Junho’s. Jungmo had endured hearing about Eunsang for a good few months now and his patience is slowly wearing thin. He had wanted nothing more than to have Eunsang disappear the same way Junho did, swift, silent and in the dead of night.</p><p>Junho’s car was cornered just outside the compound of the hospital where he worked with Minhee a few years ago. The car gunned down until he stopped driving. The police never did have an explanation for the crime, he was just taken and disappeared forever. It was not robbery or kidnapping, just the odd disappearance of a young doctor.  </p><p>The two- Minhee and Junho had been friends- not best friends, just good enough friends to always share pleasantries and spend some perfectly platonic time with each other. Minhee’s interest had stopped with being colleagues, he was already seeing Jungmo during those times but he had never noticed that Junho wanted more. The advances were subtle but Jungmo noticed and during those turbulent times of uncertainty over where he stood in Kang Minhee’s life, Jungmo decided to take down any and all competition.</p><p>It was so easy to make the events of years ago happen again but Jungmo had seen how Minhee was shaken up with losing a friend and the idea that he lived in a world filled with evil. To Minhee, there was an unparalleled terror of not understanding why someone who was in a profession so honest and harmless as theirs would befall such violence. Jungmo didn’t want to see the fragile and shaken up, side of Minhee again so he had to be creative this time.</p><p>The thing is, Jungmo hates Lee Eunsang more than he had ever hated Cha Junho. Minhee had a ring on his finger but the man still followed Minhee like a sick child would follow their handsome and smart doctor in hopes for some validation and candy. Lee Eunsang who bought Minhee’s favors with snacks and a warm smile. He was irritating. Lee Eunsang who doesn’t get deterred every time he asks Minhee for a dinner or lunch- alone and gets rejected even when he knew what the diamond-studded ring meant to the tall freckled doctor.</p><p>Lee Eunsang was despicable and deserved to meet his death by the hands of Koo Jungmo himself. He would make it happen if the factors to all these were only his raw fantasies. But the vision of Minhee’s ashen face clouds his view. It’s the face he made when he got a message from their HR department declaring that Cha Junho missing and that the last place he was seen was leaving the hospital after his shift.</p><p> </p><p>“What if he isn’t the last one?” Minhee had confided to him weeks after Junho goes missing and Jungmo asks him if there was something that bothered him.</p><p>“Mini, there are many evil people in the world.” Jungmo had told him honestly. They were sitting on the black sofa of Minhee’s old apartment then, this was years ago. During those times Jungmo loved being invited over, being trusted by the younger to be in his safe place. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from them.” Jungmo almost bashfully added.</p><p>Minhee had chuckled then, laughed louder than he had ever done since his friend’s disappearance.</p><p>“But you’re so weak.” Minhee replied. It felt like a whisper. His hand grazed Jungmo’s and the older says nothing as he pulls Minhee in by his loose white shirt. They’re so close and Minhee wraps his arms around Jungmo’s neck and lets the older plant a soft slow kiss on him.</p><p>When Jungmo pulls away just enough that they’re still hovering near each other’s faces, he says “You don’t know that. I can secretly be a killer or a superhero and you’d never know.”</p><p>Jungmo had thought Minhee would think he was joking, would defend Jungmo by denying the possibility that he can be anything but the young businessman Minhee knows him to be.</p><p>“Maybe,” Minhee says and smiles at him, honest and beautiful. Jungmo’s so in love with him, he’d steal the stars for this man if he physically could.</p><p>“What?” He asks, wanting to clarify what the younger had meant.</p><p>“Maybe you are,” Minhee says simply.</p><p>Jungmo didn’t know how to reply to that so he leans in again to taste the younger man’s soft lips.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Hey.” Serim’s voice deep and groggy from sleep greets him on the other line.<br/>
<br/>
Jungmo’s standing on the balcony, it’s a bit chilly, the early morning sun just starting to peek from behind the dark clouds. It’s a little after five in the morning and he’s watching Minhee sleeping on their bed like an angel, under the heavy covers that are keeping him warm. Jungmo has his phone tucked in between his ear and shoulders balancing it as he takes a sip from the mug of steaming hot coffee. He turns his back on his bedroom and faces the city view below him, hues of pink and orange looks like it’s filtering the city that’s just about to wake up.</p><p>“Did you have Allen-hyung set up the deal that I wanted?” He inquires calmly.</p><p>“Which one?” The older asks in confusion. It’s okay, Jungmo will forgive his right-hand man for not understanding his inquiry. It’s really too early even for Park Serim to function. He pictures Serim in his own apartment, the blinds are shut. Maybe Woobin was with him or maybe not.</p><p>What his friends do after work was not Jungmo’s business anyway but he wonders about his friend too, sometimes, especially times like this. Does Serim ever have to make such hard decisions as Jungmo does? Probably not.</p><p>“The little shit in Minhee’s hospital.” He whispers.<br/>
<br/>
There’s a pause on the other line and for a few moments, Jungmo stares at the nothingness. He was wondering why he had the intense need to call his right-hand man at too early o'clock.  </p><p>“They’re going to ask him today.” There’s a pause. “What if he doesn’t accept?”                                                                                           </p><p>Jungmo thinks about Eunsang. It’s a man he’s never met before, but someone he’d be able to pick out from a crowd. He’s tall and good looking with almost the same educational background that Minhee has. In theory, Minhee would be much better with marrying someone like Lee Eunsang but Jungmo knows that Minhee likes him only as a friend. Eunsang was another story though. There was something about him still offering gifts to an already publicly engaged man that rubbed Jungmo the worst of ways.<br/>
<br/>
Jungmo berates himself, allowing for a moment to let this other man worm his way in Minhee’s life in such a way that this particular man suddenly disappearing would be a headache that Jungmo did not want to have. Minhee would be devastated to suddenly lose another friend from a mysterious act of violence not knowing that it’s because Eunsang gave him cake or ice cream every other week.  </p><p>“He’ll accept it,” Jungmo says, but he can’t say for sure really. He thinks of Woobin who was baited to their side by the paycheck he couldn’t turn down.<br/>
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</p><p>Something in him says that Eunsang wanted to get into Minhee’s good graces because of Minhee’s connections, the Kang Pharmaceuticals.<br/>
<br/>
The Kang’s family business was rotten somewhere under all the pristine white Jungmo knows as much, but not enough. It’s not as big as the Koo’s but the uneasy look Minhee’s dad gives him whenever he was around confirmed his suspicions.</p><p>If his new suspicions about this other problem are true, then Eunsang wanted connections in the medical field. Jungmo is willing to buy for him, a small charity to have the handsome young doctor away from his love.</p><p>The truth is, Jungmo had killed for less sins than what Eunsang has done but maybe he can look at this as a small victory against himself. Choosing to spare life with all the risks and baggage that it will have instead of taking the easy way out.</p><p> </p><p>“It gets better with time.” His father’s words ring. It had meant it about the killings. How ending a life or ruining one over and over again will desensitize his conscience after a while. His father thinks there are nightmares that would haunt him for every soul he takes away from a physical body. Jungmo never had conscience and killing was just a utilitarian task for him but now, somehow, when Minhee’s face shows up it makes his one-track mind pause for a while.<br/>
<br/>
Would Minhee be okay with this? Of course, he wouldn’t.</p><p>Minhee was a smart person who loved and gave love freely. He was like the sun, radiated a warmth that healed the soul. But Minhee was also sharp and inquisitive and Jungmo has no delusion that somewhere along the way the love of his life will figure out that he was doing more than just signing paperwork behind his black marble desk all day.</p><p>That’s his greatest fear- losing Minhee when the other finds out the truth about him.<br/>
<br/>
He knows he’s trying to compensate now. Trying to reason with himself that maybe the person that’s rotten to the core like him could at least genuinely love someone like Kang Minhee. Maybe he can be a better person bit by bit by letting Minhee’s values be his own.</p><p>He takes a sip of his hot coffee again, wishing so well he could have a smoke instead of the burning bitter liquid on his throat. But he had promised Minhee he’d quit.</p><p> </p><p>“I mean what if he doesn’t?” Serim asks again, there’s an impatience in his voice. From the background noise at the other end of the line, Jungmo hears a deeper voice calling for the older man. It’s Woobin. Woobin who was once in with the law is now entangled with people like Koo Jungmo and Park Serim. Seo Woobin who had accepted Park Serim and all the baggage he had with him a few years back.<br/>
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A dangerous thought plays in his mind.</p><p>Maybe if he told Minhee he’s a killer the younger would be scared or disgusted at him but a part of him wants to hope that his fiancé would still love him anyway and say it doesn’t matter and make him promise to quit killing as well. Maybe quit the whole life of crime even. That would be a problem because he thinks he’d be willing to do that for the younger man. He’d be willing to do anything for Minhee really, not just giving up this life he has just to have the assurance that the younger would never ever leave his side. What a perfect world that be, Jungmo thinks.</p><p>He turns around again and gets surprised to see that Minhee’s awake, on a lazy sitting position with is back leaning against the headboard. From his place, Jungmo can make out the huge glasses placed on top of the younger’s nose. He was preoccupied, looking like he was scrolling through his phone. Minhee is so many meters away from him but Jungmo thinks he still looks absolutely divine, just beautiful. The best view he’s seen this morning.</p><p>“Serim-hyung, he’ll take it,” Jungmo says with urgency in a low voice before hanging up on his older friend. He closes his phone and makes his way back inside.</p><p> </p><p>“Good morning, angel.” Jungmo says softly as he places the now empty cup of coffee on top of a dresser table. He gets no reply as he climbs on the bed again. He sees Minhee shut his phone, the low light from the gadget disappearing. He places the phone on his bedside table, one identical to Jungmo’s side. Once Jungmo  gets close enough he smiles when Minhee has his hands outstretched, he lets the younger do as he wants which was oddly cradling his face in between his large warm hands.</p><p>“You are calling Serim-hyung so early in the morning again you little devil.” Minhee whispers. Jungmo is not sure if it was supposed to be the younger’s way of lecturing him but he hums, acknowledging the accusations. He wonders how much Minhee heard or if he was just assuming it was only Serim that Jungmo would be talking too that early in the morning.<br/>
<br/>
Jungmo feels Minhee’s hands leave his face and he takes it as an invitation to rest back again. He takes this chance to lie next to the other, squirming closer to the other man who still had his back to the headboard. He stops once he feels his shoulders hit the side of Minhee’s stretched legs. It’s still mostly dark, the only light is coming from the huge balcony doors that Jungmo had left open. From the dim setting, he can still make out the silhouette of a smile from Minhee’s lips. The younger is looking down at him, wordlessly his fingers are playing with Jungmo’s hair. </p><p>“It was urgent,” Jungmo adds, even if he knew Minhee had already let the thought go.</p><p>“I’m sure it was.” Minhee replies lazily, he doesn’t stop his ministrations and just lets his fingers be entangled with Jungmo’s soft hair.</p><p>When the younger looks away, to the view of what Jungmo assumes is the rising sun, he wishes everything was as easy as this. He wished the only thing he had to do was looking at his world, just the one right there next to him. He wished he only had Minhee and nothing else.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“So it’s been decided that next Wednesday is probably my last day here.”</p><p>Minhee gives a bright smile and a small nod to the group of nurses that are watching them pass by, their greetings belatedly said. Eunsang is walking beside him still excitedly telling him about his plans before finally taking the big step and moving to Busan.  The other was taking up an unexpected opening as head of a something department- Minhee didn’t even bother remembering. What’s important is that it’s in one of the biggest hospitals in that city and his friend is absolutely ecstatic.</p><p>“I’m so happy for you Sang.” Minhee says genuinely. He stops at the closed door of his office, the other doctor staying put as well.<br/>
<br/>
“Minhee-“ Eunsang starts, tone different from his earlier one. Minhee gets the mood but he immediately cuts it off with a shake of his head, still with a smile on his face he pats the other man’s shoulder two times with his hand and then shoos his playfully away.<br/>
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“Now get out of here and get back to your office. My fiancé is already waiting outside. Gosh, you’re a talker when you want to be.” Minhee adds to make Eunsang less awkward with the blatant rejection.<br/>
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“Bye, Minhee.” Eunsang says at a lower volume now. He flashes Minhee one of his friendly smiles, it wasn’t fully genuine but what can Minhee expect? He starts walking away, deeper into the long hallway and Minhee only watches his back for a few seconds. He chuckles at the contrast of Eunsang’s blood red hair to the white doctor’s coat he was wearing.  </p><p> </p><p>Minhee enters his clinic only to retrieve his bag and within seconds he’s walking back down the brightly lit hallway and into the car parking lot.</p><p>He thinks about Eunsang’s mysterious offer. He thinks about how his father and older brother would always ask him if Jungmo was treating him right- and that they would understand if he was to share something he shouldn’t to them. It was all odd and it bothered him how nothing adds up.</p><p>The truth is, on the deepest part of his consciousness he knows that there is something very wrong.</p><p> </p><p>He thinks about the conversation Jungmo was having with Serim a few weeks back. He wonders how Jungmo is always purchasing new suit sets and yet he never sees them piling up the other’s walk-in closet, they just seem to disappear. Minhee wonders about the gun tucked underneath Jungmo’s book drawer on the living room, the other one in the glove compartment of the older man’s convertible and the pistol underneath the bedside table. There are hushed conversations and long hours spent unaccounted for.</p><p>Minhee wasn’t part of whatever world Jungmo was hiding from him but he wonders if the older knows that he was aware it exists. He wonders how much his fiancé knows about the Kang family’s own secrets. Admittedly, Minhee isn’t part of that world that he knows his older brother moves in. He’s been spared of it. He’s just an innocent well-educated man that will probably render his whole life in the service of making sure the community is a healthier place. <br/>
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</p><p>“Hey there.” Jungmo greets him. He’s leaning against the passenger door of his shiny black Maserati. The older man is wearing a black turtle neck under a suit that seems to be made of matte glitters. The sunlight on Jungmo’s handsomely defined features is making him look like a god. He was too flashy for this half-full employee parking lot.</p><p>Minhee wordlessly steps into Jungmo's space, leaning down a bit to capture the older man’s lips for a kiss that lasts a few seconds. “Hi.” He replies breathlessly after.</p><p>Jungmo gives him a lazy but warm smile, his soft wavy hair is oddly not styled and it’s giving the older a softer impression which contrasts his usually sharp look. Briefly, Minhee wonders if Jungmo knows that whatever he’s hiding didn’t matter to the younger. Unconditionally, he would accept Jungmo.</p><p>Everyone had a role to play in this world and maybe Minhee’s role was pretending he didn’t know.</p><p> </p><p>“Let’s go?” The older asks, his voice cheerful and excited as he opens the passenger door.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>“Take me there, Mr. Koo” Minhee replies playfully as he steps inside Jungmo's car. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: Prior to writing this yesterday, I have read a crime novel and was like hmn what if I wrote Jungmo as a criminal and here this fic is. Of course I wrote minimo and had to throw in some seriwoo (just because I thought it fit) and a hyunghyuk if you squint. </p><p>If you have sat through this whole thing, thank you so much for reading! Comments and Kudos are loved.</p><p>hit me up on twt - @ seriminimo :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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